Murder Trial Seen as a Test of the Dominican Justice System

Four armed guards stood between the two defendants and the throngs of Dominicans--the rich, the powerful and the merely curious--who have packed the courtroom every day for more than a week now.

Each word, move and tear has been broadcast live to the nation as the horrors of the Dominican Republic’s murder of the century have unfolded in a case that has riveted this Caribbean island nation.

The logo on millions of television screens in homes, offices and shops across the country these days reads simply: “The Trial.”

Not since a former president was tried and convicted on corruption charges here a decade ago has a criminal trial been broadcast live nationwide. And the audience following this case--which many here liken to the O.J. Simpson trial in its laying bare of the secrets of the rich and famous--has outstripped even that in the case of former President Jorge Blanco.

At the core of the case is not merely the victim, a 12-year-old boy from one of the Dominican Republic’s most prominent families who was allegedly kidnapped and killed by his cousin. For many here, Dominican justice itself is on trial.

“Most people are drawn to the trial because the people involved are from high society,” News Network producer Carlos Rizik said as he monitored the day’s drama at a makeshift broadcast booth outside the courtroom this week. “It’s also that the murder was particularly brutal.”

But in a nation starved for justice, where thousands of suspects languish in prisons awaiting trial and the rich are rarely punished, Rizik and other analysts here say the case is an important test of whether the country’s ailing judicial system can function.

There is little doubt, however, about its outcome.

The two young men accused of stabbing Jose Rafael Llenas 34 times and then dumping the boy’s body in a canal in May 1996 have already confessed to the murder. In fact, the government broadcast the confession by Llenas’ cousin, Mario Redondo Llenas, and his alleged accomplice, Juan Moline Rodriguez, both 20, on national television.

The two young men have not recanted their broadcast confession. But, under Dominican law, the confession must be made in court during trial to be admissible. Still, with so many witnesses scheduled to testify in a case expected to last weeks, many here believe that the televised trial is meant to show that the wheels of justice are turning.

The televised confession aired soon after the murder, which brought mobs of angry protesters into the streets demanding justice. In the two years since, the nation’s media have kept up the pressure, and prosecutors and investigators have meticulously built a case with more than 100 witnesses they now are presenting in court to prove that justice does indeed work in this largely impoverished nation.

But conspiracy theories abound. In fact, Rizik and other journalists covering the trial said they suspect that many Dominicans are tuning in to see whether a murder conspiracy will reach beyond the two boys--deeper into the Dominican elite. And there has been plenty of fodder to fuel the imagination.

Psychiatrists who examined the accused said they had been planning the crime for months. The father of one of the defendants testified that his son had been virtually brainwashed into committing the murder by the family of a high-profile ambassador here.

The father also stated that his son killed the boy only after receiving the message “666,” which he testified was the sign of the antichrist and a prearranged message from other, yet-unidentified co-conspirators who he said were using his son as a pawn.

Other testimony has hinted at the involvement of the country’s violent drug underworld. But none of the testimony so far has explained the motive for such a grisly crime.

As Rizik summed it up this week: “Horrible murders happen daily here. They’re a fact of life. But one never hears about it happening in this upper crust of society. Each day, we’re learning something new about it, but many still wonder how this could have happened.”